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44 PCB007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2018
Feature Article by Dan Beaulieu
Over the years I have been involved with
many customers and many rescue missions.
A rescue mission occurs when a shop screws
up so much and hurts the customer so badly
they have to do something extraordinary to get
the customer out of hot water and not lose the
account.
Many great PCB vendor/customer relation-
ships have been forged in adversity. Great com-
pany reputations can be made when a vendor
handles its problems when they occur. The
worst thing a vendor can do when adversity
strikes is to argue about whose fault it is. The
right thing to do is take care of the problem
first and then perform the autopsy later. The
customer is usually in a whole lot of hurt and
needs his problem solved immediately. There
will be plenty of time later to wade through the
events and figure out who did what to whom.
Then there are the great customer service
stories, occasions when a PCB vendor went
so far and above the normal expected per-
formance the story becomes part of that
company's legendary history, a story that con-
tributes to that company's definition of customer
service.
Here is one of those stories. This was in the
late '70s when eight weeks was standard lead
time and six weeks warranted premium dol-
lars; two weeks (10 working days) was too im-
possible to even consider. The company was
Rockwell's Maine Electronics, a great shop
when it came to technology; these folks could
build boards 40 years ago that most companies
can't even build today. But as good as they
were at technology, they were weak on deliv-
ery. Catch-back schedules (remember those?)
were part of their everyday life. They could
build great stuff but on-time delivery was a
stranger to that facility. And two weeks? Well,
that wasn't ever going to happen.
One day, the sales manager received a
call from the head of procurement of one of
their high-tech customers. This man sounded
desperate. One of his buyers had neglected to
place an order for a program that consisted of